Camera Quetions-- Safari-- How big should the lens?

Question

I'm going to Kruger National Park in South Africa, how be should my zoom lens be for it? I have a 300mm one. Do I need a 500mm? I have no idea how close they get to animals...... Also the bigger the lens, does shaking affect it more/ Do people use a tripod with the 500mm and 300mm

Answer 1

The problem of shaking as you know is amplified by several factors. The first as you mentioned is longer telephoto lenses. The next factor would be the size of aperture, the smaller your apertures the slower your shutter speeds will be i.e., smaller apertures = less light and longer exposures. The last thing that can amplify your shaking is what ISO film or setting you choose. The lower your ISO the longer your exposures will be simply due to the fact that lower ISO films don't react as quickly to light. Of course in many cases it is more ideal to use a lower ISO film because of the grain, and lack there of, however with some action photography this just might not be appropriate and you may have to go with a higher ISO film or setting especially when lighting conditions are poor and the use of a flash is just not effective because your subject is too far away.
So as you learned from the previous post fixed focal length 500mm lenses are not cheap and can run several thousands of dollars. Of course you can go for off-brand fixed focals or zoom lenses but quality is always a concern and especially with these long focal lengths you may run into things like chromatic abberation. However I have to say that with most of your major non-mfg lenses this isn't the case.
I am not sure if you are on a budget or not but if you are then my solution is this, buy yourself a 2x converter for your lens which would make your 300mm lens a 600mm lens. Check with the manufacturer of your lens to make sure this is possible. The only drawback of course is that these 2x converters will affectively reduce your minimum aperture, usually by 1 stop or so, so that if your minimum aperture is 5.6 then it will be 8. This of course can be offset by using a higher ISO setting. I would suggest that you take a look at keh.com if you are considering purchasing a lens or lens converter. Furthermore if you are worried about stability and shake, then purchase yourself a monopod as tripods are too much of a pain in the field when you are photographing nature and have to move a lot.

Answer 2

It would be nice to get a 500mm or even longer (that way, you're farther away from the animals.. especially the dangerous ones).

What is really important though is the speed of the lens. Ideally, the faster the better. Look at the fStop of the camera. If you can, get a 500mm (or 300mm) with an fStop of 2.8 (or even lower).

Unfortunately, the faster the lens, the higher the price. I think a 500mm lens 2.8 would cost anywhere between $2000-5000 est.

Solution: Find a camera store that rents equipment. You can probably find a lens that fast for a relatively low rental fee.

Oh, and with a 300/500mm f2.8 you're gonna need a mono/tripod for it.

Answer 3

300 will work well. You will need a tripod or be able to stabilize your camera in someway - the slightest movement will amplify with that lense and you will lose your shot.

If you don't think that the 300 is good enough, get a zoom that will cover from 200-500mm. In many cases, lenses that long will have the tripod mount on the lens, leaving your camera hanging off the lens, but that is OK. It would depend on the quality of the lens and the weight of it.

Answer 4

Obviously the size lens depends on how close you will be able to get to them, if you want full body shots and/or head shots.
I think you will get to be pretty close to them.
The 300 should be a good choice.
I would recommend a tripod to keep things still when you have the time to set up and wait, otherwise you can always use it as a mono-pod without folding the legs out if you need it in a hurry for that shot of a lifetime.
Good luck and good shooting.